Display device and method

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an image display device and an image display method thereof that may generate a plurality of directional lights based on a number of views of an input image by using a variable scattering feature of a variable scattering layer included in a backlight unit, and may output a multi-view image by using the generated plurality of directional lights.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2009-0053414, filed on Jun. 16, 2009, in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

One or more embodiments relate to a scheme of displaying a multi-viewimage or a multi-view image display device.

2. Description of the Related Art

A multi-view image, a stereoscopic image, and the like may be generatedby geometrically correcting and spatially processing images recorded byat least two cameras.

The multi-view image and the like relate to a three-dimensional imageprocessing technique that provides an image with various views to aviewer, and particularly to a technique that obtains a same 3D scene byat least two cameras and provides a picture with a more advanced 3Deffect, for example.

Recently, various research has been conducted in the areas of supermulti-view (SMV), free viewpoint TV (FTV), and the like, as well as themulti-view images.

A multi-view image and the like may be generated through rendering byusing a predetermined input image, such as a monocular image and thelike, and a depth map with respect to the input image, for example.

SUMMARY

According to one or more embodiments, there may be provided an imagedisplay device including a pixel representation unit to controlrespective representation of at least one pixel unit of an input image,and a backlight unit to selectively generate a plurality of directionallights based on a number of views of the input image, and to apply thegenerated plurality of directional lights to the pixel representationunit.

According to one or more embodiments, there may be provided an imagedisplaying method including selectively generating a plurality ofdirectional lights based on a number of views of an input image, andrespectively forming, by a pixel representation unit, at least one pixelunit of the input image from incidence of the generated plurality ofdirectional lights.

According to one or more embodiments, there may be provided an imagedisplay device including a pixel representation unit to represent atleast one pixel unit of an input image through individual pixel unitcontrol of pixel units of the pixel representation unit, a backlightunit to selectively generate directional lights based on a number ofviews of the input image, and to control a projection of differentrespective directional lights, of the plurality of directional lights,to a pixel unit of the pixel representation unit at different times inan outputting of the input image by the pixel representation unit.

According to one or more embodiments, there may be provided an imagedisplay method including selectively generating directional lights basedon a number of views of an input image, and controlling a projection ofdifferent respective directional lights, of the plurality of directionallights, to a pixel unit of a pixel representation unit at differenttimes, and controlling the pixel representation unit to output the inputimage based on incidence of the different directional lights, thecontrolling of the pixel representation unit differently controllingindividual pixel units of the pixel representation unit.

Additional aspects and/or advantages will be set forth in part in thedescription which follows and, in part, will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages will become apparent and morereadily appreciated from the following description of embodiments, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an image display device, according to one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an image display device, according to one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates a backlight unit, such as the backlight unit of FIG.1, according to'one or more embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates a display panel unit, according to one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates a display panel unit, according to one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates an operation of an image display device, such as theimage display device of FIG. 1, according to one or more embodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates a view-division feature of an image display device,such as the image display device of FIG. 1, according to one or moreembodiments;

FIG. 8 illustrates an image display device, such as the image displaydevice of FIG. 1, that increases a number of representable views byusing a view-division feature, according to one or more embodiments;

FIG. 9 illustrates an operation where an image display device, such asthe image display device of FIG. 1, displays a 2D image, according toone or more embodiments;

FIG. 10 illustrates a display of a 2D image on a 3D display, accordingto one or more embodiments;

FIG. 11 illustrates an image display method, according to one or moreembodiments; and

FIG. 12 illustrates an image display method, according to one or moreembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like referencenumerals refer to like elements throughout. In this regard, embodimentsof the present invention may be embodied in many different forms andshould not be construed as being limited to embodiments set forthherein. Accordingly, embodiments are merely described below, byreferring to the figures, to explain aspects of the present invention.

Currently, to effectively embody an 3D image providing such astereoscopic sensation, images from different viewpoints have beenrespectively expressed toward the left eye and right eye of a user. Toimplement such a stereoscopic sensation without using a filter such asfiltering glasses, a 3D image may be displayed by spatially dividing the3D image at the display based on an expected viewpoint. An existingautostereoscopic 3D display may spatially divide an image at the displayby using an optical device(s). Typically, an optical lens or an opticalbarrier may be used. The lens enables each pixel image to be directedin/toward a specific direction upon exiting the display by using alenticular lens. The barrier arranges a slit in front of the display,and thus, a specific pixel may only be seen from a specific direction orviewpoint. The autostereoscopic 3D display using the lens and thebarrier may basically display images from two viewpoints, namely, a leftviewpoint and a right viewpoint. In this instance, an extremely narrowsweet spot may be formed at a certain point in front of the display,where the user would experience the 3D sensation. The sweet spot may beexpressed based on a view distance and a view angle. The view distancemay be determined based on a pitch of a slit or a lens, and the viewangle may be determined based on a number of viewpoints. Techniques thatincrease the number of viewpoints to enlarge the view angle for a widersweet spot are, thus, referred to as autostereoscopic multi-view displaytechniques.

Accordingly, the present inventors have found that though such amulti-view display may provide a wider sweet spot, the approach maycause a deterioration in the definition or resolution of the display. Asan example, when a 9-viewpoint image is displayed by a panel having1920×1080 resolution, e.g., capable of displaying a full HD image, theresolution of a height and the resolution of a width are respectivelydecreased by ⅓, and thus, an expressible resolution may actually only be640×360. When the expressible resolution is deteriorated, a conventional2D image may not be viewed in high definition and thus, it may bedifficult for the display to be utilized as a home 3DTV. The presentinventors found that a lens-based multi-view display may not display animage in high definition since the lens is permanently attached to thedisplay. In this regard, although corresponding study based on avariable lens has been conducted in an attempt to solve the problem,such an approach may not be commonly used due to performance limitationsand the corresponding high costs of implementing such a variable lens.Additionally, though a barrier-based multi-view display may display the2D image in a high definition upon selective removal of the barrier, thepresent inventors have found that this barrier approach may also not bean acceptable solution, since there is a dramatic luminancedeterioration in the multi-view display when the barrier approach isimplemented. Accordingly, the present inventors have found that althoughthe autostereoscopic multi-view display may avoid an inconvenience ofwearing filtering glasses and problems of an existing narrow view area,the autostereoscopic multi-view display may have serious deteriorationin the image display resolution.

Accordingly, one or more embodiments solve one or more problems of thelow 3D resolution with an autostereoscopic multi-view display, byselectively scattering light, such as by a time-division 3D imagedisplay.

As noted, when a multi-view image display device is used for displayinga three-dimensional (3D) image and the like, a wider stereoscopicviewing area may be obtained. However, a resolution may be lowerdepending on a number of views, i.e., the resolution may be directlyproportional to the number of views.

As an example, when a 9-view image is represented with a panel of1920×1080 resolution being capable of representing a full HD image, awidth and a height of the resolution respectively decreases by onethird, and thereby, the resolution of the image may become 640×360.

With respect to the above description, an image display device accordingto an aspect of one or more embodiments may generate a directional lightfrom a backlight unit and may directly apply the generated directionallight to a pixel representation unit, thereby preventing probableluminance lowering, and may also change a location where the directionallight comes from the backlight unit through a view-division, therebyimproving a visual resolution of an output image. A time-divisiondirectional backlight control may equally be implemented.

FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of an image display device 110,according to one or more embodiments

The image display device 110 according to one or more embodiments mayinclude a pixel representation unit 111, a backlight unit 112, and acontroller 113, for example.

The pixel representation unit 111 may visually represent at least onepixel of an image input to the image display device 110. The pixelrepresentation unit may represent pixels on a pixel unit, such asthrough one or more individual sub-pixels or a full pixel, for example.

In this instance, the input image may be either a three-dimensional (3D)image or a two-dimensional (2D) image, for example.

The backlight unit 112 may generate a plurality of directional rays oflight based on the desired number of views of the input image, and maydirect the plurality of directional rays of light to the pixelrepresentation unit 111.

The controller 113 may control the pixel representation unit 111 and thebacklight unit 112.

The backlight unit 112 may include a light source unit, a light guidingunit, a variable scattering layer, an upper electrode, and a lowerelectrode, for example, for generating the plurality of directionallights.

Further to the illustration of the configuration of an image displaydevice of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 further illustrates the configuration ingreater detail, classifying the pixel representation unit 111 andbacklight unit 112 as display panel unit 150 and the controller 113 asdisplay control unit 170, with the display panel unit 150 potentiallyincluding an upper panel polarization film 130, a TFT-LCD module 132, alower polarization film 134, a backlight module 136, and a light source138, for example. Here, the backlight module 136 may be controlled toimplement a scattering feature, and potentially to generate atime-division directional backlight, for example. The display controlunit 170 may include a display driver 172 and a backlight driver 174,for example, and may be controlled by a video controller 180. Thearrangement may further include a 3D video processor 176, and 3D datamay be transmitted from the video controller 180 to the 3D videoprocessor 176, for provision to the display driver 172, with 2D databeing transmitted directly from the video controller 180 to the displaydriver 172, for example. As illustrated, in an embodiment, the videocontroller 180 may further provide Hsync and Vsync timing controlsignals to the respective display driver 172 and the backlight driver174.

The video controller 180 may thus determine whether an image is to bedisplayed as a 2D image or a 3D image. When the displayed image is the2D image, the video controller 180 may display the image withoutselective light scattering, and potentially the time-divisiondirectional light, for example, and when the image is the 3D image, thevideo controller 180 may generate an image to be displayed in a panel byusing a 3D video process based on a 3D definition of the image, a viewangle, a number of expression viewpoints, and the like, through controlof the backlight's directional light generation, i.e., selective lightscattering. Accordingly, in an embodiment, the video controller 180 maydetermine whether the image to be displayed is the 2D image or the 3Dimage, and may determine a pattern of a backlight to be displayed/outputby controlling the backlight driver 174. A 2D image or 3D image display,and a principal of selective scattering, including time-division 3Dimage display, and corresponding display methods will be described infurther detail below.

Accordingly, in view of the configuration shown in FIG. 2, aconfiguration and an operation of the backlight unit 112 of FIG. 1 willnow be described in further detail with reference to FIG. 3, forexample.

FIG. 3 illustrates an operation of a backlight unit, such as backlightunit 112 of FIG. 1, according to one or more embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 3, the backlight unit may include a light source unit210, a light guiding unit 220, a variable scattering layer 230, an upperelectrode 240, and a lower electrode 250, for example. Here, the lightsource 210 may correspond to the light source 138 of FIG. 2, and thelight guiding unit 220, variable scattering layer 230, upper electrode240, and lower electrode 250 may correspond to the backlight module 136of FIG. 2.

The light source unit 210 may emit light.

The light guiding unit 220 may be made up glass, polymer, and the like,for example, and thereby may have a high transparency, and a materialmaking up the light guiding unit 220 may have a different opticalrefractive index from an exterior of the light guiding unit 220. Also,light emitted from the light source 210 may travel straight or may bereflected internally, and thereby the emitted light is spread.

The variable scattering layer 230 may be placed parallel with the lightguiding unit, plural upper electrodes 240 may be placed on a top of thevariable scattering layer, and the lower electrode 250 may be placedunder the variable scattering layer, for example. Conversely, there maybe plural lower electrodes 250 and a single upper electrode 240, orplural upper electrodes 240 and plural lower electrodes 250.

First, when the light source unit 210 emits a light, the emitted lightmay be total-reflected inside the light guiding unit 220.

The variable scattering layer 230 may selectively, i.e., variably,scatter light 261 that is total-reflected inside the light guiding unit220.

For this, the variable scattering layer 230 may include a polymerdispersed liquid crystal (PDLC), as only an example.

The PDLC is in a form where an extremely tiny liquid crystal drop isregularly dispersed inside a polymer. Also, the liquid crystal drop mayinclude a plurality of liquid crystals.

In this instance, the liquid crystal drop shows a different opticalrefractive feature for each orientation, due to an optical aeolotropicfeature of the liquid crystal.

Accordingly, when a voltage is appropriately applied to the liquidcrystal drop to change an orientation of the liquid crystal drop, theoptical refractive index of the liquid crystal drop is changed, andthus, it is possible to enable the PDLC to be either transparent ortranslucent.

As an example, when a voltage is applied to the variable scatteringlayer 230, the PDLC may be transparent, and when a voltage is removedfrom the variable scatter layer 230, the PDLC may be translucent.

Alternatively, when a voltage is applied to the variable scatteringlayer 230, the PDLC may be translucent, and when a voltage is removedfrom the variable scatter layer 230, the PDLC may be transparent.

For ease of description, it is assumed that the PDLC is translucent whena voltage is applied to the variable scattering layer 230 in one or moreembodiments.

When a voltage is applied to a predetermined location 262 of thevariable scattering layer 230, the PDLC that exists in the location 262where the voltage is applied may be translucent.

Accordingly, the light 261 that is total-reflected inside the lightguiding unit 220 may be scattered from the select location 262 where thevoltage is applied, and a plurality of directional lights 263 may begenerated from the location 262 where the voltage is applied due to thescattering of the light 261. Here, for example, if alternate locationsof the PDLC are not applied a voltage, light may not be scattered atthose corresponding locations.

In this instance, an electrode having a high transparency, such as aIndium Tin Oxide (ITO), may be used as the upper electrode 240, tospread the light scattered by the PDLC to an upper side.

Also, each electrode having a high reflective feature, such as aluminum,may be used as the lower electrode 250, to spread the light scattered bythe PDLC to the upper side.

Also, the upper electrode 240 may be closely and finely arranged toenable a scattered light 263 generated from the PDLC to have asufficiently narrow form.

Accordingly, the backlight unit scatters the light 261 that istotal-reflected inside the light guiding unit 220 by using the variablescattering layer 230, and thus, a directional light for generating amulti-view image may be generated.

A light emitted from the light source unit 210 continuously travelsinside the light guiding unit 220 until the PDLC represents a scatteringarea, and thus, a backlight that is generated when the scattering areais small may be brighter than a backlight that is generated when thescattering area is large.

Accordingly, the image display device 110 may decrease loss of an amountof light, and may prevent probable luminance lowering that may occur ina conventional multi-view image display device.

In this instance, a coating material or a reflective material thatincreases light reflective efficiency may be coated over a surface ofthe light guiding unit 220, such as a front, rear, side, and the like ofthe light guiding unit 220, to decrease leakage of a light that isgenerated from the light source unit 210.

Corresponding to the pixel representation unit 111 and backlight unit112 of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 further illustrates a more detailed format of theaforementioned display panel unit 150, including the upper panelpolarization film 130, TFT-LCD module 132, lower polarization film 134,backlight module 136, and light source 138, for example. Again, thedisplay panel unit 150 may be classified into an LCD panel module and abacklight module, for example, with the backlight module 136 selectivelychanging a scattering of back-lit light to generate the time-divisiondirectional backlight. The LCD panel unit may include an upperpolarization film 410, an upper glass panel 412, a color filter 414, aliquid crystal layer 416, a TFT layer 418, a lower glass panel 420, anda lower polarization film 422, for example. The liquid crystal layer 416may fill a several dozen micrometers gap with liquid crystal, with thecolor filter 414 and a transparent electrode arranged on the upper glasspanel 412, and the TFT area 418 and a transparent electrode arranged inthe lower glass panel 420, separated by a spacer 411. Briefly, thoughone or more embodiments are explained in reference to an LCD panel,embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the same.

The backlight module may include a light source 432, a light guidingpanel 430 that transfers light, a polymer dispersed liquid crystal(PDLC) layer 436 having a selective variable scattering capability,electrodes 433 and 434 for selectively applying a voltage to the PDLClayer, and a lower substrate 438. The LCD panel unit and the backlightmodule 136 may be optically separated by using a spacer 450, forexample. The PDLC layer may form a gap that is a several micrometers toseveral dozen micrometers long, for example, each electrode 433 may betransparent and may be arranged in the lower part of the light guidingpanel 430 to control PDLC, and each electrode 434 may have a highlight-reflecting characteristic and may be arranged on an upper part ofthe lower substrate 438. When all the PDLC layer 436 implements a lightscattering operation light scattered from the PDLC layer 436 may passthrough the color filter 414 and may form a sub-pixel for a 2D imagedisplay. The strength of the light of the sub-pixel, i.e., the sub-pixelluminance, may be determined based on the upper and lower polarizationfilms 410 and 422 and aspects of the liquid crystal of the liquidcrystal layer 416. However, when only a select portion of the PDLC layer436 implements the light scattering operation, e.g., when an extremelysmall portion of the PDLC implements the light scattering operation, theback-lit light may be selectively directed in the manner as appearing tohave been emitted from a corresponding point source at the PDLC layer436, and may thus become directional light radiating from that pointsource. Plural point sources can be used to generate a 3D image display.Controlling of the PDLC layer 436 to generate the 3D image and controlthe direction of light will be described in further detail below.

As noted above with regard to FIG. 3, to display the 3D image, a selectportion of the PDLC layer 436 may be controlled to implement thescattering operation. FIG. 5 illustrates a detailed format of abacklight module including the PDLC layer 436, as only an example. Asnoted, the PDLC may be in a form where a liquid crystal droplet isuniformly scattered inside a polymer, and the liquid crystal dropletconstituted by a plurality of liquid crystals. As illustrated, theliquid crystal droplet shows different optical refraction featuresaccording to a controlled orientation, based on an optically anisotropicfeature of liquid crystal, such that an orientation of the droplet ischanged by controlling an applied voltage. Thus, it is possible tochange the PDLC to be transparent or to be translucent by changing anoptical refraction rate of the liquid crystal droplet. The correspondingarea of PDLC may be transparent when a voltage is provided and may betranslucent when a voltage is not applied, or conversely, thecorresponding area of PDLC may be translucent when a voltage is providedand may be transparent when a voltage is applied.

As described in FIG. 5, and only as an example, the backlight modulemay, thus, include a plurality of electrodes (upper electrodes 433)being arranged in a lower part of the light guiding panel 430, and anelectrode (lower electrode 434) being arranged in an upper part of thelower substrate 438, may change voltages applied to respectiveelectrodes, and thereby change a degree of scattering of thecorresponding areas of the PDLC layer located specifically between them.As noted, the plural upper electrodes 433 may be densely arranged, e.g.,adjacent to each other or in a closely staggered manner, so that thelight scattered by the PDLC can be sufficiently narrow.

FIG. 6 illustrates an operation of an image display device, such as thedisplay device 110 of FIG. 1, according to one or more embodiments.Below, discussions regarding FIGS. 6-9 will be made with regard to theimage display device 110 of FIG. 1, noting that embodiments are notlimited to the same.

Here, in FIG. 6, for ease of description, it will be assumed that theimage display device 110 of FIG. 1 represents twelve-directiondirectional image information in one or more embodiments, noting thatembodiments are not limited to the same.

Here, although the pixel representation unit 111 of FIG. 1 may have asimilar arrangement as the pixel representation unit 310 of FIG. 6, oneor more embodiments will be described with reference to the pixelrepresentation unit 310 shown in FIG. 6, while also making reference tothe backlight unit 112 and controller 113 of FIG. 1.

The controller 113 may, thus, determine one or more select locationswhere a light emitted from the light source unit 210 is to be scatteredbased on a number of views of an input image.

The controller 113 may control the backlight unit 112 to enable a lightto be scattered from the aforementioned variable scattering layer 230,such as the aforementioned PDLC layer, at twelve sub-pixel intervals321, 322, and 323, as one or more embodiments may assume that the imagedisplay device 110 represents the twelve-direction directional imageinformation.

In this instance, when the pixel representation unit 310 represents anRGB image, the twelve sub-pixels corresponds to four color pixels, asillustrated in FIG. 6.

In this instance, the image display device 110 may further include avoltage applying unit to apply a voltage between an upper electrode 240and lower electrode 250 of FIG. 3, at the twelve sub-pixel intervals321, 322, and 323.

Referring to FIG. 6, light is selectively scattered from the variablescattering layer 230 at the twelve sub-pixel intervals 321, 322, and323.

Directional lights scattered from the variable scattering layer 230 maybe applied to the pixel representation unit 310, and thereby the imagedisplay device 110 may display the twelve-direction directional imageinformation.

In this instance, a resolution of a screen may be directly dependent onthe number of light scattering points of the variable scattering layer230, and thus, an image resolution may be lower compared with arepresentable resolution of the pixel representation unit 310.

However, according to other one or more embodiments, the image displaydevice 110 changes locations where light emitted from the light sourceunit 210 is scattered at predetermined time intervals, for example,thereby preventing the lower resolution.

With respect to the above description, the controller 113 may controlthe backlight unit 112 to change a scattering pattern with respect tothe light emitted from the light source 210 at predetermined timeintervals, e.g., through time-division.

Here, in one or more embodiments, the controller 113 may apply data ofthe input image corresponding to the scattering pattern of the emittedlight to the pixel representation unit 310 at time intervalssynchronized with the predetermined time intervals.

In this instance, the pixel representation unit 310 may represent atleast one pixel corresponding to the data of the input image applied tothe controller 113, at time interval synchronized with the predeterminedtime intervals.

Hereinafter, above described operation will be described in greaterdetail with reference to FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 illustrates a view-division feature of an image display device,such as the image display device 110 of FIG. 1, according to one or moreembodiments.

Depending on the case of when the image display device 110 represents animage of an odd numbered frame and a case of when the image displaydevice represents an image of an even numbered frame, the controller 113may control the backlight unit 112 to enable a light to be scattered indifferent locations.

As only an example, it may be assumed that the image display device 110sequentially represents frames 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

The controller 113 may control the backlight unit 112 to enable light tobe scattered from a location illustrated in diagram 410 with respect tothe frames 1, 3, and 5, and may control the backlight unit 112 to enablelight to be scattered from a location illustrated in diagram 420 withrespect to the frames 2, 4, and 6.

In this instance, image information and an oriented-direction that aregenerated while a directional light generated from the odd numberedframe passes a predetermined pixel may be different from imageinformation and an oriented-direction that are generated while adirectional light generated from the even numbered frame passes throughthe predetermined pixel.

As only an example, it may again be assumed that locations where lightis scattered are light scattering locations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and ascattered light may be generated from odd numbered light scatteringlocations such as light scattering locations 1, 3, and 5 in the oddnumbered frames, and a scattered light may be generated from evennumbered light scattering locations such as light scattering locations2, 4, and 6 in the even numbered frames.

In this instance, a scattered light of a first light scattering locationpasses through an m^(th) pixel and a directional light is generated inthe odd numbered frame, and a scattered light of a second lightscattering location passes through the m^(th) pixel and a directionallight is generated in the even numbered frame. Subsequently, the oddnumbered frame and the even numbered frame have different directionallights for the same pixels, the directional lights being generated whilethe differently scattered light respectively passes through the m^(th)pixel.

In this instance, in the odd numbered frame, the controller 113 appliesimage data corresponding to the odd numbered frame to the pixelrepresentation unit 310 of FIG. 6 at a time synchronized with the oddnumbered frame, and in the even numbered frame, the controller 113applies image data corresponding to the even numbered frame to the pixelrepresentation unit 310 at a time synchronized with the even numberedframe.

That is, as described above, different image information may be appliedfor each case, namely, a case of when the scattered light of the firstlight scattering location passes through the m^(th) pixel and a case ofwhen a scattered light of the second light scattering location passesthrough the m^(th) pixel.

Based on the above described principal, different directional lightshaving different image information from each other may be generatedthrough a view-division scheme.

That is, the image display device 110 may lower a frame rate (fps) of anoutput image, like an interlace scan scheme that is used for improving avisual resolution in a conventional image display device. Instead, theimage display device 110 may represent a greater number of pixels, andthereby may improve a visual resolution of a multi-view image.

With respect to the above description, referring to diagram 430, since aviewer may view N pixels from the odd numbered frame and may view Npixels from the even numbered frame, the viewer may feel as if theviewer views 2N pixels.

That is, the viewer may only view N 3D effect display pixels from aconventional image display device, whereas the viewer may view 2N 3Deffect display pixels from the image display device 110 according to oneor more embodiments, and thus, a visual resolution experienced by theviewer may be doubled compared with the resolution of the conventionalimage display device.

In this instance, a picture replay frequency of the image display device110 may be desired to be greater than or equal to 120 Hz to represent amulti-view image of 60 fps through the image display device 110, notingthat alternative embodiments are equally available.

Here, when the picture replay frequency of the image display device 110is greater than or equal to 120 Hz, for example, the controller 113 maycontrol the backlight unit 112 to change a scattering pattern of a lightat 1/60 second intervals, and may apply image data corresponding to thescattering pattern of the light to the pixel representation unit 310 attime intervals synchronized with the 1/60 second intervals, therebyincreasing a resolution of the multi-view image by a factor of two. Thisrepresents an example of time-division control of the light scattering.

One or more embodiments illustrating that the image display device 110displays the multi-view image according to a two view-division imagerepresentation scheme have been described with reference to FIG. 7.

However, the image display device 110 according to other one or moreembodiments may use an N view-division and may represent the multi-viewimage, thereby increasing the resolution of the multi-view image.

As an example, when the picture replay frequency of the image displaydevice 110 is greater than or equal to 240 Hz, the image display devicemay change the scattering pattern of a light at four frame intervals,thereby representing the multi-view image of 60 Hz.

In this instance, the resolution of the multi-view image displayed bythe image display device 110 may be increased by a factor of four.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example where an image display device, such as theimage display device 110 of FIG. 1, increases the number ofrepresentable views by using a view-division feature, according to oneor more embodiments.

The image display device 110 according to one or more embodiments maydisplay an image through an N view-division representation scheme,thereby increasing a number of representable views.

As only an example, FIG. 8 illustrates an example that the image displaydevice 110 represents an image through a four view-divisionrepresentation scheme, and improves a resolution of a multi-view image,while increasing the number of representable views.

That is, the image display device 110 changes a scattering pattern of alight to enable different views to be formed at four frame intervals,and thereby may increase the number of representable views by a factorof four.

In other words, although the image display device 110 basically has aconfiguration being capable of generating a twelve-direction directionallight, for example, the image display device 110 may generate a fortyeight-direction directional light by an arrangement using the fourview-division representation scheme, as illustrated in FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 further illustrates an operation where an image display device,such as the image display device 110 of FIG. 1, displays a 2D image,according to one or more embodiments.

Here, according to one or more embodiments, the image display device 110may represent a 2D image in addition to a multi-view image.

To represent a 2D image in addition to a multi-view image, thecontroller 113 may determine a type of input image input to the imagedisplay device 110.

When the input image is the 2D image, the controller 113 may control thebacklight unit 112 to enable a light emitted from the light source unit210 to be scattered from every area of the variable scattering layer 230as illustrated in FIG. 9.

In this instance, the light scattered from every area of the variablescattering layer 230 may be evenly applied to the pixel representationunit 310 of FIG. 6, for example, and thus, the image display device 110may have a similar light feature as a conventional 2D image displaydevice.

The image display device 110 according to one or more embodiments mayconvert a display mode within a short time, since the time expended forconversion from a 2D image representation to a multi-view imagerepresentation and vice versa is merely several ms through several tensof ms.

Also, the image display device 110 may represent a part of a 2D image asa 3D image by a view-division representation scheme.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example 3D display of a 2D image, according toone or more embodiments. In general, in a case of a 2D display, an imageis formed on the display face, and more precisely, a color filter face.Here, with such a 2D displaying operation, the forming of the image mayindicate that image information transmits scattered light to alldirections based on the color filter face. However, a user may senselight information total-scattered from a surface of an object through avisual mechanism of two eyes, when seeing the object in the real world.That is, in a conventional 2D display, light randomly scattered from thescattering panel may pass through each aperture of a display panel, andthus, light information expressed at the color filter may only bedisplayed. Accordingly, in such a 2D environment, an image is alwaysdisplayed on the display surface, and the image is seen the same in anydirection. However, in the 3D image display, image information may beexpressed as if an image is spaced away from the display by using thedirectional light as illustrated in FIG. 10. In this instance, differentviewpoint images are respectively displayed through a left view and aright view, for example, and thus, the image may appear as existing in3D space, as having depth. Further, when a user moves, the user maydifferently experience the image from different viewpoints.

FIG. 11 illustrates an image display method, according to one or moreembodiments.

In operation S710, a plurality of directional lights are generated basedon a number of views of an image input to the image display device.

In this instance, the input image may be either a 3D image or a 2Dimage.

According to one or more embodiments, operation S710 may includespreading of a light emitted from a light source unit through a lightguiding unit.

Subsequently, operation S710 may include generating of the plurality ofdirectional lights by selectively scattering the emitted light atpredetermined area intervals of a variable scattering layer that isplaced parallel with the light guiding unit, for example, based on thenumber of views of the input image. The selective scattering may be donebased on time-division so that the same pixel is provided light fromdifferent directions at different times, for example.

In this instance, the variable scattering layer may include PDLC, notingthat alternative embodiments are equally available.

According to one or more embodiments, when the input image is the 2Dimage, the emitted light may be scattered from every area of thevariable scattering layer, and thus, the plurality of directional lightsare generated, in operation S710. For the 2D image, it is not requiredthat each and every area of the variable scattering layer be controlledto provide the multi-directional light.

Thus, in operation S720, at least one pixel of the input image is formedon the pixel representation unit.

According to one or more embodiments, a scattering pattern with respectto the emitted light is changed at predetermined time intervals inoperation S710.

In this instance, operation S720 may include applying of data of theinput image corresponding to the scattering pattern of the emitted lightto the pixel representation unit at time intervals synchronized with thepredetermined time intervals.

Subsequently, operation S720 may include forming of the at least onepixel corresponding to the applied data of the input image on the pixelrepresentation unit, at time intervals synchronized with thepredetermined time intervals.

FIG. 12 illustrates an image display method selectively displaying a 2Dimage and a 3D image, according to one or more embodiments. When animage content is input, it is determined, in operation S800, whether theimage content is the 2D image or the 3D image. When the image is the 2Dimage, all portions of the backlight module may be controlled to performa scattering operation, in operation S802, and image data may bedisplayed on a screen in a manner similar to a 2D display, in operationS804. When the content is the 3D image, a number of the desiredtime-divisions may be calculated based on a 3D image angle (3D Field ofView), and a number of expression viewpoints and a 3D resolution may bedetermined, in operation S810. The image may then be displayed based onthe calculated number of time-divisions or a corresponding predeterminednumber of time-divisions. For example, a 1^(st) backlight element grouplighting may be made in operation S812, a 1^(st) group of 3D image/videomay be displayed in operation S814, a 2^(nd) second backlight elementgroup lighting may be made in operation S816, and a 2^(nd) group of 3Dimage/video may be displayed in operation S818, through an n^(th)backlight element group lighting being made in operation S820, and ann^(th) group of 3D image/video being displayed in operation S822. Here,in an embodiment, a video controller may accordingly determine thegeneration pattern of the backlight and an expression time based on thedetermined time-division, may control the backlight, and may furthercontrol the display of 3D image data corresponding to a pattern of thebacklight in a panel. Further, the described operations may be repeatedthe same number of times as the number of determined time-divisions, forexample.

The image display method according to one or more embodiments have beendescribed with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. Here, the image displaymethod may correspond to the configuration of the image display devicedescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 through 10, and thus, a furtherdetailed description for the image display method will be omitted.

In addition to the above described embodiments, embodiments can also beimplemented through computer readable code/instructions in/on anon-transitory medium, e.g., a computer readable medium, to control atleast one processing device, such as a processor or computer, toimplement any above described embodiment. The medium can correspond toany defined, measurable, and tangible structure permitting the storingand/or transmission of the computer readable code.

The media may also include, e.g., in combination with the computerreadable code, data files, data structures, and the like. Examples ofcomputer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks,floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD ROM disks andDVDs; magneto-optical media such as optical disks; and hardware devicesthat are specially configured to store and perform program instructions,such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flashmemory, and the like. Examples of computer readable code include bothmachine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containinghigher level code that may be executed by the computer using aninterpreter, for example. The media may also be a distributed network,so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in adistributed fashion. Still further, as only an example, the processingelement could include a processor or a computer processor, andprocessing elements may be distributed and/or included in a singledevice.

The image display device and the method according to one or moreembodiments may generate directional light from a backlight unit and maydirectly apply to the directional light to a pixel representation unit,thereby preventing a probable luminance lowering that may occur in aconventional multi-view image display device, and may change thelocation where the directional light comes from the backlight by using atime-division scheme, thereby improving a visual resolution of an outputimage. Further, one or more embodiments may relate to a display anddisplay method that selectively displays a 2D image or 3D image, e.g.,which may be used in a general display utilization field. As only anexample, the utilization field includes a television, a monitor, adisplay of a portable divide, a display for advertisement use, and adisplay for educational use, noting that alternative embodiments areequally available.

While aspects of the present invention has been particularly shown anddescribed with reference to differing embodiments thereof, it should beunderstood that these embodiments should be considered in a descriptivesense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of featuresor aspects within each embodiment should typically be considered asavailable for other similar features or aspects in the remainingembodiments.

Thus, although a few embodiments have been shown and described, withadditional embodiments being equally available, it would be appreciatedby those skilled in the art that changes may be made in theseembodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of theinvention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and theirequivalents.

1. An image display device, comprising: a pixel representation unit tocontrol respective representation of at least one pixel unit of an inputimage; a backlight unit to selectively generate a plurality ofdirectional lights based on a number of views of the input image, and toapply the generated plurality of directional lights to the pixelrepresentation unit.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the input imageis one of a three-dimensional (3D) image and a two-dimensional (2D)image.
 3. The device of claim 1, wherein the backlight unit comprises: alight source unit to emit light; a light guiding unit to spread thelight emitted from the light source unit; and a variable scatteringlayer, wherein the variable scattering layer generates the plurality ofdirectional lights by scattering the emitted light at predeterminedseparated area intervals, based on the number of views of the inputimage.
 4. The device of claim 3, wherein the variable scattering layeris parallel with the light guiding unit.
 5. The device of claim 3,wherein the backlight unit further comprises: an upper electrode on atop surface of the variable scattering layer; and a lower electrode on abottom surface of the variable scattering layer, wherein the variablescattering layer scatters the emitted light based on a variation of avoltage applied between the upper electrode and the lower electrode fora corresponding select portion of the variable scattering layer.
 6. Thedevice of claim 5, further comprising: a controller to apply the voltagebetween the upper electrode and the lower electrode based on the numberof views of the input image.
 7. The device of claim 3, furthercomprising: a controller to control the backlight unit to scatter theemitted light at the predetermined area intervals of the variablescattering layer based on the number of views of the input image.
 8. Thedevice of claim 7, wherein: the controller controls the backlight unitto change, at predetermined time intervals, a scattering pattern withrespect to the emitted light, and applies, at time intervalssynchronized with the predetermined time intervals, data of the inputimage corresponding to the scattering pattern of the emitted light tothe pixel representation unit; and the pixel representation unitrepresents at least one pixel unit corresponding to the data of theinput image applied from the controller, at the time intervalssynchronized with the predetermined time intervals.
 9. The device ofclaim 7, wherein the controller determines whether the input image is a2D image or a 3D image, and controls the backlight unit to scatter theemitted light from every area of the variable scattering layer when theinput image is determined to be the 2D image.
 10. The device of claim 3,wherein the variable scattering layer includes a polymer dispersedliquid crystal (PDLC).
 11. An image displaying method, comprising:selectively generating a plurality of directional lights based on anumber of views of an input image; and respectively forming, by a pixelrepresentation unit, at least one pixel unit of the input image fromincidence of the generated plurality of directional lights.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the input image is one of a 3D image and a2D image.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the generating of theplurality of directional lights comprises: spreading a light emittedfrom a light source unit through a light guiding unit; and generatingthe plurality of directional lights by scattering the emitted light atpredetermined separated area intervals of the variable scattering layerbased on the number of views of the input image.
 14. The method of claim13, wherein the variable scattering layer is parallel with the lightguiding unit.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the generating of theplurality of directional lights changes a scattering pattern, withrespect to the emitted light in the generating the plurality ofdirectional lights, at predetermined time intervals.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the respective forming of the at least one pixel unitcomprises: applying data of the input image corresponding to thescattering pattern of the emitted light to the pixel representationunit, at time intervals synchronized with the predetermined timeintervals; and respectively forming, by the pixel representation unit,at least one pixel unit corresponding to the applied data of the inputimage at the time intervals synchronized with the predetermined timeintervals.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein the generating of theplurality of directional lights generates the plurality of directionallights by scattering the emitted light from every area of the variablescattering area when the input image is determined to be a 2D image. 18.The method of claim 13, wherein the variable scattering layer includesPDLC.
 19. A computer readable recording medium comprising computerreadable code to control at least one processing device to implement themethod of claim
 11. 20. An image display device, comprising: a pixelrepresentation unit to represent at least one pixel unit of an inputimage through individual pixel unit control of pixel units of the pixelrepresentation unit; a backlight unit to selectively generatedirectional lights based on a number of views of the input image, and tocontrol a projection of different respective directional lights, of theplurality of directional lights, to a pixel unit of the pixelrepresentation unit at different times in an outputting of the inputimage by the pixel representation unit.
 21. An image display method,comprising: selectively generating directional lights based on a numberof views of an input image, and controlling a projection of differentrespective directional lights, of the plurality of directional lights,to a pixel unit of a pixel representation unit at different times; andcontrolling the pixel representation unit to output the input imagebased on incidence of the different directional lights, the controllingof the pixel representation unit differently controlling individualpixel units of the pixel representation unit.
 22. The method of claim21, further comprising controlling the selective generation of thedirectional lights to project a 2D image with depth through thedifferent directional light application.
 23. A computer readablerecording medium comprising computer readable code to control at leastone processing device to implement the method of claim 21.